1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the dispensing of animal feed, and in particular, to an apparatus for feeding horses.
2. Description of the Related Art
Raising horses is a major industry in the United States and around the world. Feeding horses has always presented certain management problems. Horses are often fed grain out of buckets or troughs in stalls or pastures. Many horses are aggressive at feeding time and bolt for their feed pushing it out of the feed bucket and onto the ground, while others take large mouthfuls of feed then remove their heads from the bucket, dropping large amounts of the feed on the ground.
If a horse eats feed from the ground, there is a possibility the horse will ingest dirt or foreign material along with its feed. There are a number of health risks and management problems that can occur when a horse eats feed off the ground. Feed eaten from the ground can transmit disease, cause parasite infestation and the possibility of colic or other digestive difficulties. Colic represents a serious problem, which can be fatal to the horse. In addition to the health risks to the horse, there are also economic and nutritional concerns.
Economic waste occurs when feed isn't eaten by the horse because of non-palatability, or loss to the surrounding environment, for example due to wind or rain and even dogs or rodents. Economic loss also occurs in the case of a horse having colic. This can result in high veterinary costs incurred for treatment, as well as potential loss of the horse, if the case proves fatal.
Nutritional problems arise because the animal does not receive his full ration of feed due to feed being dropped on the ground or if the feed is eaten from the ground, parasites can be introduced into the horse digestive tract. These parasites feed on the nutrition intended for the horse thereby limiting the nutrition the horse receives from his daily ration.
There are many patents for animal feeders that do not address this problem, but rather just provide a spout or a dispensing funnel and various means to drop food from the funnel on to a feeding surface, including for example, the stock feeder of Terry (U.S. Pat. No. 579,245), the automatic stock feeder of Crippen (U.S. Pat. No. 3,376,856), the horse feeding apparatus of Olsen (U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,183,327 and 4,292,930), the automatic livestock feeder of White (U.S. Pat. No. 4,284,035), the metered apparatus of Chocola et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,555,842), and the gated indexed feed dispensing mechanism of Bondarenko et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 6,637,368).
The related art has addressed these problems utilizing various feeder designs. One example of such a design is found in Smith, U.S. Pat. No. 5,105,769, although this design prevents the horse from pushing the feed out of the bucket, it does not however prevent the horse from bolting his feed, taking large bites of grain and removing his head from the feeder thereby dropping the feed onto the ground.
Another feeder developed by Briley, U.S. Pat. No. 5,394,832 allowed the horse to enter his head into an enclosed chamber to access his feed. This design prevents feed spillage as long as the horse does not remove his head from the feeding chamber. However horses are not comfortable not being able to see and hear their surroundings while eating. Horses are not likely to keep their head inside the chamber for the entire feeding period until their feed ration is completely consumed.
A third feeder developed by Jorden, U.S. Pat. No. 5,036,799, requires the horse to eat its ration out of a bucket which is placed outside the paddock in which the horse is housed, therefore preventing the horse from eating the dropped feed off the ground. This invention fails to address the economic loss due to feed waste.
While the automatic pet food dispenser of Portelli (U.S. Pat. No. 3,763,826) having an inclined feed board on which a funneled food container with a lower opening in one side rests to restrict food flow, this opening not only restricts the flow of food, but also prevents the animal from reaching food that has fallen directly below the dispenser due to the small opening.
None of these prior feed dispensers dispenses small manageable bites of feed in a manner easily regulated by the horse, without waste of feed, as well as being usable with current feeders.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a feeder that reduces both economic and nutritional loss associated with previous horse feeder designs.
It is an additional object of this invention to provide a feeder that can be utilized with any current feed trough or bucket.
It is an additional object of this invention to provide a feeder that can be used both indoors or outdoors.
It is an additional object of this invention to provide a feeder that dispenses small manageable bites of feed regulated by the horse.
Other objects and advantages will be more fully apparent from the following disclosure and appended claims.